NOVEMBER 23, 2011 During the early morning the captain moved the ship south toward Cape Evans on Ross Island. The ship was at its furthest point south on this expedition. Temperature was minus 4 degree C, with wind making it a bit chilly, but the sky was mostly blue. It was a perfect day for our flight to Cape Evans to visit Robert Falcon Scott’s hut until whiteout conditions appeared [...]
November 22, 2011 Last evening, we headed toward an area further close to Taylor Valley in the McMurdo Dry Valleys in hope to make a helicopter operation. About 2am the Kapitan Khlebnikov’s engines were shut down as the captain could not get the ship closer to the valley due to the thick ice. The goal was to park as close to Taylor Valley as possible to make the helicopter ride [...]
November 21, 2011 Shackleton’s Nimrod Hut, Lat. 77 33 South. Long 166 67 E Last night, we left Franklin Island about 10 pm and continued our journey south to McMurdo Sound. Mt Erbus came into view during early afternoon. What a lovely sight as we cruised along side Ross Island. The ice was amazingly thin for this time of year which allowed the Captain to park the Kapitan Khlebnikov a [...]
NOVEMBER 20, 2011 Again we were reminded of the old Russian saying “the best way though ice is around ice.” The day was spent weaving in and out of ice through the patches of sea ice. Cape Washington was no longer in reach due to the ice conditions but we did make it to a wonderful emperor penguin rookery on Franklin Island. The lighting was beautiful on the huge tabular [...]
November 19th, 2011 We spent the day heading toward Cape Washington or Coulman Island to visit emperor Penguins. The currents and wind changes throughout the day causing the ice to change directions. The sky is overcast and colder than the previous day. We spent the day watching the penguins scurry from the ship as it powered through the ice. After lunch we took helicopter rides for landscape viewing and to [...]
NOVEMBER 18TH, 2011 — 7PM Tomorrow will be another day of crushing ice as Coulman Island is still 170 miles away. Due to the large ice floes and sea currents, we have traveled only half as far as yesterday. Now we are heading in a southeasterly direction because that is where the lightest ice is taking us. Ice charts are not always accurate so the captain completed three helicopter recon [...]
November 17th, 2011 — 9:00 am Yesterday we entered the pack ice about 8pm. The light was incredible as we photographed the snow petrels and Antarctic Terns fly among the pancake ice. The view from the fly bridge was surreal. Several times I had to stop taking photographs just to admire ice and the sunset. No image, no matter the number of pixels can do this place justice. We just [...]
November 16th — 6:15 am The view from the bridge was of calm sea with light visibility of about 300 meter. At times there is light snow. The wind makes the air almost too cold to leave the porthole open in my cabin. Sailing through the shrieking 60s now we begin our look out for icebergs. The expedition leader, Mike Messiok, gave us a challenge — first one to view [...]
NOVEMBER 15TH TUESDAY — SOUTHERN OCEAN 7AM Last night we were warned to expect the worst and to secure our items in our cabins. Surprisingly, most of us, I believe, slept well through the night to awake to very calm seas. The Southern Ocean has been flat like a lake nearly all day. We are ahead of schedule and should be in the pack ice by tomorrow at 10. November [...]
Monday – Nov. 14, 2011 This morning we arrived at Perseverance Harbor, Campbell Island about 8am. Wind was 30 knots and temperature about 40 F degrees. The 100 passengers were divided into several groups by ability: ie. fast to slow walkers. The goal was to complete the 2.5 mile walk with 811 feet elevation gain to the top of the island to view the south side of the island. We [...]
